Category: Other Cool Stuff

The sequencer tab is where you will spend hours at a time to make your lights dance to the music! The great thing about this software is you can figure out what your yard is going to look like before you build your first item. What is a Sequence? A sequence is a file that…

The next tab on the XLights software is the Layout tab. This is where you create the actual “simulation” for your house. When you select the layout tab, you’ll see a section on models on the top left, some details on the bottom left, and a sketch of our display layout on the right. In…

In order to set up a good crazy blinky flashy Christmas display, you need to have some kicking software.  That’s where XLights comes in. There are many commercial software packages out there (I’ve spent way too much on them in the past), but this open-source software is the best by far.  That’s due to dedicated…

Now we’re getting into the meat of the display – what directly controls the lights. I use two controllers depending on the type of element (or display item) I’m trying to connect. Controlling Pixels through Falcon controllers The majority of my display is controlling RGB pixels. The FPP (Falcon Pi Player) sends the data (of…

What is an RGB light? I’m sure there are many better resources here, but I’ll share what I’ve personally used. Smart and Dumb RGB lights Most of the lights I use have the ability to control each bulb – I can set the color and the intensity of one bulb, and the bulb after it…

The majority of our show is run off a single Raspberry Pi for data.  We use the Falcon Pi Player, or FPP.   What is a Falcon Pi Player? The Falcon Pi Player starts out with a Raspberry Pi (think teeny tiny computer), and then adds some fantastic software from Falcon to make it able to…

Before getting too deep into all of the ins and outs of this hobby, you may want to ask yourself the following questions: In reality, it would be ideal for you to say YES to all the above questions before proceeding. Any one of the above can make or break all of the effort you…